Draft rigging for railway cars



N mm Q D N A V E.

DRAFT RIGGING FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed July 19, i928 5 Shee'tsmheet lum@ Z9 319335 H E, VAN BORN l-'gl-S DRAFT RIGGING FCR RAILWAY CARS Filed July 19, 1928 3 SheeS-She 2 June 20, 1933. H El VAN DORN 1,914,469

' DRAFT RIGGING FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed July 19, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 E Q a fkffW Patented June 20, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEr J- HERBERT E. VAN DOEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM E. VAN DORN,

F PASADENA, CALIFORNIA DRAFT RIGGING FOR RAILWAY CARS Application filed July 19,

The present invention has for its objects to mount a draft rigging so that the loa-d will be effectively distributed through the car underframe; to insure clearance with respect to the motor in the case of a long, laterally swinging drawbar having a coupler head lying a considerable distance below the underframe of a car; to produce a draft rigging in which the coupler head may swing from lside to side, up and down, and about a longitudinal aXis; and generally to improve the construction of draft riggings in which there is a long laterally swinging drawbar provided with a coupler head capable of swinging lup and down and rotating about a longitudinal aXis.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed rout with particularity in the claims; but, for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to th-e following detailed description taken in connection with Athe accompanying drawings, wherein:

in Fig. l; Fig. 3 is a transverse section, on an enlarged scale, taken approximately on line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a section taken approximatelyon line 4 4 of Fig. 3; and Fig.

I d is a vertical longitudinal section through 1' the pivotal connection between'the coupler head and its stem.

Referring to the drawings, l and 2 represent the two center sills of a railway car, and

Q 3 the bolster at one end of the car.

In accordance with one feature of my invention, I place against. the front side of the bolster, inthe space between the two center sills, a spring housing 4. Two bolts 5 extend through the rear wall of the housing and i through the bolster, on opposite sides of the longitudinal center line. Ordinarily the center sills will be farther apart than the re quired width of the spring housing, and I therefore place a filler block 6 between each V' of the center sills and the adjacent side of 1928-. serial No. 293,835.

the housing. The housing is secured to the sills by means of bolts 7 passing through the side walls of the same, through the filler blocks, and through the webs of the center sills. rIhe housing is made wider than required to receive the draft rigging, so that the nuts on the bolts 7 are housed in chambers separated from the main central compartment by partition walls, indicated at S.

The housing is open at the bottom and has in the front an opening of a proper size to permit the introduction of the yoke 9 of the drawbar. It will be seen that the partition walls 8 are shaped so as to form seats at opposite sides of the spring chamber for the reception of the side elements of the yoke. Any usual or suitable followers l0, and spring 11, are inserted through the bottom of the housing after the yoke has been placed in posit-ion; the followers and the spring being held up by a suitable cover plate 110 extending across the bottom of the housing and preferably bolted to the latter and to the lower flanges of the center sills.

The parts are so proportioned that the rear end of the yoke, when the yoke is pushed back, rides in and is guided by the upper and lower walls of a pocket in the spring housing behind the rear follower l0. Therefore, since the yoke is guided at the sides and also at the front where it passes out through the spring housing, it may be said to be supported and Quided throughout its entire length. Therefore the yoke may slide freely in the longitudinal direction, but is held against angular movements in any direction.

The drawbar itself, indicated at l2, is attached to the front end of the yoke by a hinge whose axis is vertical. In the arrangement shown, there is a heavy bolt 13 extending vertically through the front end of the yoke and underlying and overlying parts of the drawbar.

The drawbar slopes rather sharply in a downward direction from the rear to the front end. The front end of the drawbar is supported by an overlying hanger 14 which is in turn suspended from the usual arcshaped bar or plate l5 hung from and be- 100 low the center sills. Vhat may be termed the stem of the coupler head 16, namely the member 17, is connected to the front end of the drawbar in such a manner that it may rotate about a longitudinal axis. The details of this construction are set forth in my prior Patent No. 1,524,67 9 dated February 3, 1925 to which reference may be had. The coupler head is connected to the stem by a transverse pivot pin 18, whereb)7 the head may swing up and down. Normally the head is held in a predetermined angular position with respect to the axis of the pin 18; but the support is yielding, so that the head may swing down when necessary. The supporting means for the head is best shown in Figs. 2 and 5. It will be seen that the stem member 17 is of considerable diameter and is hollow. Vithin the member 17, in rear of the pivot pin 18, is a vertical ycompression spring 20. This spring is supported at its lower end on a follower 21 having on the underside a hub or boss 22 that normally rests on the bottom wall kof the hollow stem member. A swinging carrier is hung from the pivot pin 18, the carrier having two arms 23 extending rearwardly on opposite sides of the springs and having elements 24 underlying the follower 21. A part 25 of the carrier extends down behind the coupler head on which is a depending flange 26 adapted to engage with the part 25, or preferably with adjustable stops 27 on the latter. It will be seen that when the coupler head is pressed down, the flange presses back on the lower end of the member 25, causing the rear ends of the arms 23 to rise and thusV compress the spring 20. The spring 20 is under an initial compression sufficient normally to hold the head horizontal. The head may be swung freely up from the horizontal position but, when it swings down, it is.

on the bottom wall of the hollow stem and remains in place.

It will thus be seen that I have produced a simple and novel construction 1n which cars may be coupled together with tight lock cou-k plers, whereby the the coupling connection between two cars will alwaysy yield in the necessary direction or directions in turning curves, over changes in grade, and even in the case of one of the cars jumping the track, to avoid the creation of stresses that might Iinjure the apparatus. It will also be seen that the pushing and pulling forces on the draft appliances, in service, are transmitted to the rugged holsters of the car underframe, as well as to the center sills, thus insuring such a distribution of the stresses that the underframing will not be strained.

lVhile I have illustrated and described with particularity only a single preferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which come within the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim 1. The combination with the center sills and a bolster of a car underframe, of a spring housing lying in the space between the center sills and abutting against the bolster, bolts passing through a portion of the housing and through the bolster parallel with the longitudinal axis, and transverse bolts securing the housing to the sills.

2. A spring housing comprising an integral casting open at the bottom, said housing having two longitudinal upright partition walls spaced apart from the side walls, said partition walls having recesses extending throughout the length thereof on their inner sides to form seats to receive the side bars of a drawbar yoke positioned with its side bars lying on opposite sides of the longitudinal center of the housing, and the front wall of the housing having an opening topermit the entrance of and provide a support underneath the front end of the yoke.

8. In a draft rigging, a spring housing comprising an integral casting open at the bottom and closed at the top, a spring within the housing, followers at the end of the spring, the side walls of said housing being chambered on the inner side to form seats extending lengthwise thereof, said housing having an opening in the front end thereof closed at the under side, a drawbar yoke extending into the housing through said opening and having its longitudinal bars located on 'opposite sides of the longitudinal center of the housing and each extending into the adjacent longitudinal seat, and a detachable bottom plate for said housing.

4. In a draft rigging, an integral hollow spring housing having front, rear, side and top walls, and open at the bottom, a spring within the housing, followers at the end of the spring, the side walls of the housing being chambered on the inner sides to form seats for the longitudinal bars of a drawbar yoke, the rear wall of the housing having a pocket or chamber extending rearwardly in the plane of said seats, the front wall of the housing having an opening also in the plane of said seats, and a drawbar yoke extending through the opening in the front wall of the housing and having its longitudinal bars tion.

HERBERT E. VAN DORN. 

